Conference Paper

Integrated Reality In-flight Simulation (IRIS): The Developmental Challenges

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Abstract

The National Research Council Canada (NRC) and Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) have developed modelling and simulation tools intended to de-risk, increase efficiency and standardize Ship Helicopter Operating Limitations (SHOL) testing through the use of modelling and simulation. The Integrated Reality In-Flight Simulation (IRIS) tool is a novel simulator platform where an evaluation pilot (EP) flies a variable stability aircraft while wearing a virtual reality (VR) headset with many elements of the shipboard environment carefully reproduced including the injection of real time turbulence models established from wind tunnel trials. The turbulence and other environmental effects on the aircraft motion are coupled directly into the aircraft in real time, thereby retaining accurate critical proprioceptive and vestibular cueing for the pilot. NRC has recently completed flight test evaluations of the prototype concept. Pilot comments from initial testing indicated that the system required little adaptation, presented no noticeable lag, no attributable propensity to cause motion sickness, and that the turbulence felt realistic.The testing indicated that typical VR deficiencies such as resolution and field of view are not as impactful during close-in shipboard operations, making this application very effective.

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Conference Paper
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The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) recently developed an Integrated Reality In-flight Simulator (IRIS) allowing helicopter pilots to fly the NRC's Bell 412 helicopter while wearing a virtual reality headset and experiencing real-world multi-sensory cues. The first IRIS prototype simulated maritime helicopter ship-deck landing operations to augment current flight test and flight training methods. Two NRC test pilots evaluated the IRIS prototype using a customized mission task element (MTE) that represented maritime helicopter hover manoeuvres under three different Visual Cueing Environments (VCEs). Pilot performance and workload was evaluated in each cueing environment along with the effect of simulated airwake turbulence. Both pilots successfully completed the MTE using the Reality Field VCE with moderate workload, but found the Integrated Reality (IR) Field VCE to be higher workload due to poor VR resolution of subtle cues required for longitudinal positioning. By comparison, the pilots successfully completed the MTE using the IR Ship VCE with similar performance levels to the Reality Field. This evaluation demonstrated that the IRIS prototype is suitable for in-flight simulation of shipboard helicopter manoeuvres.
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